Extra: Small Lebanese village has added estimated 6,000 residents to Peoria area

Saturday

Jun 28, 2014 at 1:00 PM

Laura Nightengale of the Journal Star

When Lina Khoury moved to the U.S. in 1986 from a small village in Lebanon newly married and pregnant, the plan was to stay for five years and return home.

After making the move to Jacksonville, Fla., a few years later Lina and her husband, Sayed, took up at 3326 N. University St. in Peoria to open a restaurant and never looked back.

“Those five years never ended, but I don’t mind,” Lina said. “I never felt homesick ever. We felt like we were always surrounded by family.”

Some estimates say that as many as 6,000 residents of the Peoria area are immigrants or direct descendants from a stream of villagers from Itoo.

The village, also spelled Aytou among several other variations, is a picturesque mountain town of only a few hundred occupants located in a part of the world with a propensity for war.

Because of this and for economic opportunity, many have elected to leave Lebanon for the United States, many landing in Peoria in the arms of the local Itoo Society, founded 100 years ago by a small group of immigrants who came together to cover the burial costs of a poor man who had drowned.

“They came over for certain reasons. There was no food, there were big families, there was no work,” said Randy Couri. The last name, like the village, has several variations of spelling. “And those who came more recently, I’m talking 1965 and on, it’s really the same reasons.”

Couri, an Itoo historian and past president of the Itoo Society, can trace his Lebanese heritage back to his great-grandparents who immigrated in 1902, 1907 and 1909, some of the founding members of the extended family that has flourished in central Illinois.

While Lina and Sayed grew up together in the small community, all four of their children always have lived in the United States.

While the family has made America their home, the connection to Itoo is strong.

“In Peoria it’s so automatic. They are always around their cousins and the church,” Lina said. “I always force them toward the American community, too. I want them to get the best of both.”

They also share the Lebanese culture here through their restaurant, Khoury’s Cuisine, featuring dishes such as the popular gyro — which is actually from another Mediterranean country, Greece — and the garlic chicken sandwich, a fresh take on a traditional dish, along with falafels, hummus and baba ghanoush.

“I make it here exactly like I prepare it for my kids,” Lina said. “My kids eat here most of the time. I don’t need to make tabouli both places.”

As successful business owners, the Khourys can apply their Lebanese work ethic — Lina started sewing her own clothes at age 10 and Sayed started working to help support his family at 14 — to the opportunities afforded in America.

Their oldest daughter is nearly finished with school to become a dentist, a career she probably could not have achieved in Itoo.

“That’s why we are working so hard,” Sayed said.

One of Peoria’s strongest subcultures thrives by maintaining its connection to its Lebanese heritage while embracing its new community.

“We teach them to appreciate what we have, what this country provides for us, and to focus on the good things, not the bad,” Lina said.

Laura Nightengale can be reached at 686-3181 or lnightengale@pjstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @lauranight.

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Look for more from our special section Extra: Peoria's melting pot in this Sunday's Journal Star and check for daily posts here: http://www.pjstar.com/extra